Contributed by: chrisafichrisafi(others by this writer | submit your own)Published on June 24th 2008Rage Against the Machine don't have an album review on this site? Okay, well, a quick search will show you that they do have one, the 2003 record-label cash-in on the back of their split: a live album. And yes, they do pretty much pre-date this site entirely and they hardly happily slot into the gen.

Rage Against the Machine don't have an album review on this site? Okay, well, a quick search will show you that they do have one, the 2003 record-label cash-in on the back of their split: a live album. And yes, they do pretty much pre-date this site entirely and they hardly happily slot into the genre of 'punk' however you personally wish to define the term in your head. But over the years this site has had reviews of literally some of the worst musical dross ever created, and pretty much every genre you can think of represented and now, after reading a Wu-Tang Clan album review which isn't even for their classic Enter the Wu-Tang Clan (36 Chambers), I think this has to change, especially given the band are now touring throughout the biggest global venues they can get their hands on.

My copy of this self-titled release, not being a reissue or reprint, is actually one of the oldest physical CDs I own, having racked up a massive 15+ year lifespan now since its release in late 1992. Musical geeks amongst you may have know that's actually 10 years after the CD format was introduced to the musical world, and therefore infer that my record collection must suck. I urge you to remain quiet. I was only five in 1992, after all. And no, I was not a five-year-old die-hard RATM fan headbanging and air-guitaring my way through this album's 10 tracks of savage musical dissent. Instead, years later I was given this album by an older friend, who decided he didn't like them anymore. He was one of the many casulties of nü-metal, cashing in such trully brilliant and classic music for pale, bland, completely derivative and forgettable impersonations (Limp Bizkit, anyone?).

But enough about CDs, the Wu-Tang Clan and the woefulness of Fred Durst; this review is about Rage Against the Machine. From the first track "Bombtrack," the winning formula this album represents slaps you in the face: Tom Morello's crunching riffs, the politically-charged rants of Zach de la Rocha, slow and fast-building crescendos and a nice sprinkling of solos, gang vocals and chants. Anyone who has heard "Killing in the Name" (which should be everyone, regardless of whether you are on punknews.org or ilovehiphop.net -- even if you discovered it only through the medium of "Guitar Hero 2"), will know exactly how the whole sound comes together.

It comes at you at 400 miles per hour. And accelerates. It takes you left, then right and then along a brand new axis of movement you had previously not discovered. It sounds angry, sad and non-plussed all within a minute of each other, yet stays consistent and tight. However, despite the roaring and huge sound you encounter, the album as a complete unit does tail off slightly towards the end. Tracks like "Fistful of Steel" and "Freedom" continue the raw, heavy 'rage' heard from the start and are not a drop in tempo, but do seem to lose a bit of the shine and real head-banging induced nausea that you get from the true power of tracks like "Take the Power Back" and "Bullet in the Head."

The sound quality is famously brilliant on this album: no over-compression, audio manipulation, clipping or other waveform distortions here. Indeed, the notes even have the disclaimer: "No samples, keyboards or synthesizers used in the making of this record." This album really is pure and unadulterated in every way.

So, you may be asking if I am one of those Rage Against the Machine fanboys. The band seem to have an army of followers, but I am honestly not one of them. I will see them live for the first time in the summer and am excited, but even so, I do think this band really did have its time in a different decade. This, I think, far eclipses the rest of their work, which generally spiralled downwards with every release. However, they remain powerful and relevant today, but not in the same way; they are arguably, alongside Refused, the biggest 1990s influence on a lot of the new music that passes through sites like this every week.

So, okay, it can be a bit repetitive. The last four tracks tail off. Sometimes you wish instead of stretching most of the tracks to five minutes they had kept it at three. Sometimes, Zach's groans, grunts and 'come-on!'s can cut a bit raw and seem slightly out of place. But then moments such as the end of "Know Your Enemy" with the haunting repeated chant "All of which are American dreams" are nothing short of breathaking. This album is all about inspiring music that is straightforward, in your face, uncompromising and hugely powerful. Based on those criteria, this is an absolute masterpiece.

What a classic album. Just saw these guys a couple of weeks ago in holland and i think the songs from this album were definatly the best of the set. Especialy Freedom.
Anger is a gift!
Fuck yeah. Still as relevant today as it was 16 years ago.

I remember being a young teenager buying this from what would be today a big box store, and thinking I just bought a major label album that is 'subversive', this record is either going to nosedive into hype or justify the label gamble.

I might not dig the level of moshity that this band created in young white kids, but it is painfully dense record. Hard to listen to the whole record straight, just very dense and geologic in its pounding both lyrically and musically. Great songs.

I also liked some of Zach's DJ shadow collaborations.

And while as a whole, including the absurd band name, they were atrocious, audioslave's singles were a guilty pleasure for me, very guilty, I mean that band was the epitome of shitty mt.dew "intense" rock, but those singles are solid if mainstream numbers. I feel so shamed now. As I should.

This was my favorite band for like 4 years. I made my dad order the Woodstock '99 pay-per-view just so I could watch their set. He got pissed when they burned the flags.

This record and "Evil Empire" taught me how to play drums.

Speaking of Evil Empire, that riff that comes in on the song "Snakecharmer" right after Zach says "your friendship is a fog that disappears when the wind redirects" used to make me go fucking nuts. Still does.

This is pretty much the only rap/metal combo that I can stomach, mostly because of De La Rocha's voice and lyrics. Although I wish that Inside Out had more albums, it's good that a band with something to say got some exposure.

Wow, nostalgia trip. Best Rage cd, "Know Your Enemy" is also my favorite song. I'm not afraid to say I like this band, and I'm comfortable in my self esteem to say I am actually not also a douchebag, a rare combination. One of the few bands that went out on top in my opinion.

This album is probably the most revolutionary, rebellious album that ever hit the mainstream. You can say a lot about RATM, but despite their mainstream success, they never pulled any punches. On any release. Every track on every album seemed to say something that would make politicians cringe.

BTW, if anybody wants to doubt their rebelliousness after this album, please watch the "Sleep Now In The Fire" video with Michael Moore. They play oustide of Wall Street and end up getting arrested. That was from the "Battle of LA" era. They were still as good as it gets.

This album is awesome but its raw and doesn't really showcase all the band can do. "No Shelter" has to be one of my favorite RATM song of all time and its from the Evil Empire days. That album, "Evil Empire" is damn fine and quite a focused, relentless, heavy record. Its amazing and is of higher quality than this, their first release. All three of their records are awesome. I would say they were on the rise until they stopped, all three albums are easily A efforts.

this album was mindblowingly revolutionary in 1992 (yes, I did own it in 1992, I'm 28 now, this was one of the first musical leaps I made as a middle school kid graduating from a steady diet of hair metal to grunge and these dudes, Green Day and Offspring turned me on to punk, pop punk and politically charged music) and still holds up today, although not as well as Evil Empire or Batltle of LA.

The first 3 tracks, Know your enemy, wake up and Freedom are all amazing, lyrics, energy and think of the fucking context of when this shit came out. 1992...ok, Motley Crue were huge still, Nevermind was only a year old, rap rock was essentially unexplored territory other than Aerosmith/RunDMC "walk this way" and like "body count" I guess. mainstream rap rock was unheard of, music was in a transition from 80's hair metal to 90's grunge and RATM just burst out of nowwhere with politcally charged socially aware angry raps over Zeppelin esque classic guitar riffs with a grunge tinge. It was perfect and revolutionary, it was so new and it blew my mind. It's probably still my favorite RATM album and while some songs (know your enemy) are painfully played out now, I can still recall when "fuck you I won't do what you tell me" made me lose my shit. I was heavily into these guys throughout highschool and moved on in college to other styles of music and bands but my respect remains.

also, their lyrical content and attitude is much more punk than half the bands reported on this site. I mean what the fuck do the Shins have to do with punk? I'm just sayin. Or Wolf Parade? Ok, its called punknews.org not coffeshopshoegazers.corg.